Suspended sentence for £17,700 benefit fraud

A Maidenhead woman has been sentenced to 12 weeks in prison, suspended for a year, and 100 hours community service after fraudulently obtaining almost £17,700 in housing benefit, council tax benefit and income support.

Sandra Doyle, 46, of Deansfield Close, received the sentence at Slough Magistrates Court on Friday 23 July. Mrs Doyle had pleaded guilty at Maidenhead Magistrates Court, on Friday 2 July, to three charges of dishonestly failing to give prompt notice to the Royal Borough and the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) that her circumstances had changed.

Between 19 December 2007 and 14 December 2009 she received housing benefit overpayments of £9,696.93, council tax benefit overpayments of £1,650.49 and income support overpayments of £6,352.10 - a total of £17,699.52.

All three offences are contrary to Section 111A of the Social Security Administration Act 1992.

Mrs Doyle was given a 12-week custodial sentence for each of the three charges, to run concurrently and all suspended for a year. As well as the community service she also has to pay £100 costs.

In addition, Mrs Doyle will have to repay the £17,699.52 under a repayment plan arranged with the borough.

The Royal Borough's fraud investigation service initiated an investigation after government data matching revealed that Mrs Doyle had been reconciled with her husband and, as they were now living together, she could could no longer be considered a lone parent.

Cllr Richard Kellaway, lead member for finance, said: "Hopefully anyone who is contemplating committing benefit fraud will think again when they see the potential consequences.

"To anyone who has already received overpayments my plea is to let the council know so that we can work with them to sort out the situation."

The council's confidential and free Beat the Cheat line for reporting suspected benefit fraud incidents is on 0500 353300.

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